With temps -30 and below, Alamosa is coldest in US

At least twice this week, the San Luis Valley city was the coldest place in the continental United States. The temperature dropped to minus 30 on Wednesday and hit minus 33 on Thursday, the lowest recorded temperatures.

The mercury dropped to negative 34 on Friday morning but it's not clear yet whether that was the absolute coldest.

National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Wolyn (Woah-lin) says cold gets trapped in the valley and snow cover prevents the ground from warming up. Similar conditions also make Gunnison among the coldest places in Colorado, at least according to weather records.

Taylor Park Reservoir, northeast of Gunnison, is also notoriously cold but its temperature is recorded just once a day, so it doesn't qualify for records.

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